Note 60 — A LETTER FROM JAPAN
Reading edition
Footnote 60:
(return)
The fourth line gives these two readings:—
Nam'mai da?—"How many sheets are there?"
Nam[u] Aɯida!—"Hail, O Amitâbha!"
The invocation, Namu Amida Butsu, is chiefly used by members of the great Shin sect; but it is also used by other sects, and especially in praying for the dead. While repeating it, the person praying numbers the utterances upon his Buddhist rosary; and this custom is suggested by the use of the word kazoëté, "counting."